Mark Sand
Head Coach
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Mark
began coaching in 1989 as an assistant coach to a summer team in
San Jose . While swimming for Cal State Hayward, he helped coach
Castro Valley High School Swim Team from 1990-1994. He was the head
coach of the Chabot Marlins from 1991-1993 bringing them from last
place to 2nd place in three years. From 1992-1999, Mark worked as a
satellite coach and an age group/junior coach for Mission San Jose
Aquatics. In February, 1999, Mark came back to Castro Valley High
School as the head swim coach and remained through the 2002 season.
While there he had 5 NCS individual champions and numerous
individual & relay All American qualifiers. In the fall of
1999, Mark and a small group of parents met and incorporated the
East Bay Bat Rays Swim Association. Since then Mark has coached Far
western Champoinship finalists, Western Zone qualifiers, Top
16 PRT qualifiers, NRT Qualifiers, Sectional finalists and Junior
National finalists. Mark has been teaching Physical Education for
13 years and is presently teaching at Creekside Middle School in
Castro Valley, where he lives with his wife, Kristin, of 14
years and 3 children.
Colby Haarz
Age Group 2/Junior Coach
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Colby Haarz was born and raised in Oakland and despite being in the water
before she could walk, she began her official swimming career at
age eight for Oakland Hills Tennis Club. She swam three
summers there before making the jump from summer league to year
round. From there she swam with Orinda
Aquatics and after a brief hiatus in high school, returned
to the pool and swam her senior year with Oakland Barracudas.
After attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for one year she
transferred to CSU East Bay where she swam for two years under
Anthony "Chava" Garcia. Colby started out teaching swim
lessons at Strawberry Canyon in Berkeley, and her first coaching
opportunity was with her former summer team, the Oakland Hills
Tennis Club. Colby comes from a swimming background where
stroke technique was a top priority and she strives to have
technique be one of the core values of her group - the other focus
being, of course, on fun!
Lauren Ashley
Age Group 1 Coach
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Lauren Ashley has been swimming for the past
15 years. She started swimming on a summer league team at seven
years old. From there she continued to swim for her high school,
Ohlone Jr. College, and Cal State East Bay where she finished her
swimming career. As a freshman in highschool, Lauren began
teaching swim lessons for Swim America. Over the past five
years she has been teaching swim lessons for Fremont Swim School,
The American Swim Academy in Dublin, and for the East Bay Bat Rays
in the summer. Lauren has been coaching for the East Bay Bat Rays
for almost two years now. She coaches the Age Group One
program and according to her "this is the best group in the
water." When not coaching or teaching swim lessons you can
find Lauren at school. After completing her multiple subject
teaching credential program last winter, Lauren continues to study
as she is completing her masters degree.
Mitchell Reiss
Pre-Comp
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After taking lessons for many years, Mitchell
finally joined the Cabrillo Threshers, a year round competitive
swim team at the age of 10. Showing a real talent and passion for
swimming, he quickly progressed into the senior group by the age of
13. Mitchell primarily swam middle distance freestyle, although his
strength lies in the 500 free. He competed at USA Swimming
Sectionals and was a championship finalist at the CIF Central Coast
Section High School Swimming Championships. Mitchell gained
experience working with kids of all ages while teaching swim
lessons for 2 years with the Cabrillo Swim School. Currently,
Mitchell is pursuing a degree in nursing at California State
University, East Bay and is coaching for the first time with
EBAT.
